Harness



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-+Shet 1.

A. W. TOURGEE.

HARNESS. No. 333,978:. Patented Jan. 5, 1886'.

('No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w A. W. TOURGEE.

. HARNESS. No. 333,978

Patented Jan. 5, 1886. I.

Mrs STATES rrrca,

ALBION \V. TOURGEE, OF MAYVILLE, NEW' YORK, ASSIGNOR TO LINSON DE FORREST JENNINGS AND S. E. KILBOURN,

OF SAME PLACE, AND A. O.

KILBOURN, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

.HARNESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,978, dated January 5, 1886.

Application filed May ll, 1385. SerialNo. 165,006. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that l, ALBION W. Toononn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mayville, in the county of Chautauqua and State of New York, have inventcdoertain newand useful Improvements in Harness and Attachments Theret-o; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descrip tion of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention has for its object to provide an improved and novel construction of harness and certain attachments thereto, whereby the ordinary traces, side straps, and breeching are dispensed with, and the traction force applied directly to the pole or tongue of the vehicle, through the medium of a series of levers of peculiar construction co-operating with breast-yokes attached to the collars, and to a novel form of harness, the construction generally being such as to aiford greater freedom to the movements of the draft-animal, preventing injury to the shoulders by allowing the pole to play laterally within certain limits without sudden or severe pressure upon the collar, and enabling the animal to aecommo date his movements to the character of the roadway or the nature of his work; and my improvements consist, essentially, in the details of construction and general arrangement of parts, all as will be hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan view of my improved harness; Fig. 2, a perspective view of the traction appliances as connected to the collars, and Figs. 3 to 7 detail views thereof.

Similar letters of reference occurring on the several figures indicate corresponding parts.

The objects of my invention are attained by means of the vertically-arranged levers which support and hold the tongue or pole of the vehicle, or a chain when the team is to be used for plowing or other similar work, and which operate, in connection with an inflexible curved breast-yoke attached to the collars of the team, in such manner that the force is equally and instantly applied to both sides of each collar and to the improved harness,which is designed to act in unison with the traction appliances which secure the load to the draftanimals and render the same secure and manageable both in pulling and backing. These vertically arranged traction -levers A are formed of two sets of jointed bars lying flat upon each other and strongly pivoted, both at their respective ends and in the middle of each, except the inner pair of each set, which are allowed to move freely upon each other at their centers or middle portions, one bar of the same being formed double or with a central elongated slot, through which the corresponding bar is adapted to move freely. Between the two sets of hinged levers and pivotally connected thereto is provided a narrow plate or link, B, of a length corresponding to that of the hinged bars, and of a suitable width for attaching thereto the pole of the vehicle or the hook or ring of a chain, these attachments being made upon the under side of said plate and securely fastened in place, as shown. The two outer ends of each set of hinged levers are securely pivoted within lugs a, upon the inner sides of theinflexible breastyokes O, which are attached, as will be hereinafter described, to the metallic collars D,and the two sets of hinged levers thus attached to the connecting-plate and to the breast-yokes are intended to operate in a horizontal position, so that while yielding to pressure upon either end or permitting within certain limits the lateral action of the pole or tongue, the combined system shall be inflexible at all times and in all directions, thus constituting in effeet a bar of varying length, which automatically adjusts itself to the varying requirements of the draft animals and the roadway. It may be observed, however, that this construction is ordinarily to be used in its fullest extended form, and to this end a coiled spring, I), is attached to the opposite ends of two of the hinged levers in each set,

which, by drawing them together, serves to extend the system and prolong the inflexible bar. As already stated, the outer ends of these two sets of hinged levers are pivoted within lugs upon the inner sides of the breast-yokes O, the ends of which in turn are secured to the sides of the collars D by means of a threaded bolt, 0, projecting from said collar-one on each side thereof-and, passing through holes or openings in the ends of said yokes, secures the same in position through the medium of the thumb-screws d, as shown. These breastyokes Oextend outwardly and downward, so as.

not to touch the collars D, except at the points where they are secured thereto, as above referred to, it being intended that they should stand two or three inches distant at other points. The collar D is of the same general character and construction of the metallic collar for which I have already made a separate application for Letters Patent under date of February 18, 1885,- Serial No. 156,295.

The improved harness to be used in connection with the traction appliances above de scribed consists of a back-strap, E, attached at one end to the upper part of the collar D and at the opposite end with the crupper F, and an intermediate connection of the same being made with the harness pad or saddle G by means of a compound buckle or clasp, which, with the harness pad or saddle, forms tue subject of separate applications for pat-- ent already made by Linson de F. Jennings and myself jointly. At a point a little in front of the animals hips, on each side, a strap, H, extends downward and forward until it reaches the girth I, to which it is attached at its central part just back of and between the fore legs of the animal. Each of these staystraps H are attached to the backstrapE by means of a compound buckle or clasp of the character already alluded to, and are also connected with the girth and holdback-strap K by a similar buckle or clasp, as shown. The holdback-strap K extends from the middle of the girth to the lower part of the collar D, to which it is attached by means ofa loop or by one of the compound buckles or clasps.

In the operation of my invention the traction force is applied through the pole or tongue to the automatically-extensible traction-levers, and thence transmitted through the inflexible breast-yoke'to both sides of the collars D, which are held in place by the backstrap E and holdback-straps K.

The peculiar construction of the several parts acting conjointly with each other enables each horse to accommodate his movements to the character of the roadway or to the nature of his work. The pivot or hinge by which the ends of the traction-levers are attached to the breast-yoke permits the animals to assume almost any position with regard to the traction appliances that may be necessary or comfortable. In backing, the force is simply reversed, the weight of the load being primarily sustained by the collar, back-strap, and holdback-strap, and, secondarily, by the sad dle, girth, and stay-straps,which latter closely encircle the body of the horse and permit his entire weight to be thrown upon the holdbackstraps, performing in this respect the function ordinarily discharged by the breeching.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and useful- 1. In harness, the traction-levers A, constructed as described, and hinged or pivoted to the breast-yokes 0, whereby force is equally and instantly applied upon each side of the collars D, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The traction-1evers A, constructed as described, and hinged or pivoted to the breastyokes O at one end and to the connecting plate or link B at the opposite end, in combination with the load-attaching devices, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The breast-yokes 0, formed as described, and removably connected to the collars D, in combination with the traction-levers A, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. The back-strap E, crupper F, stay-straps H, harness pad G, girth I, and holdbackstraps K, in combination with the collars D,

breast-yokes O, and tractionlevers A, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBION W. TOURGEE. [L. s.] Witnesses:

A. G. PETTIT, H. WV. N. BURR. 

